Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Fundamorphosis: A Book Review

Recently I was asked by Robb Ryerse if I would consider
doing a review of his new book, Fundamorphosis.
I am glad that I agreed to do this, for I found it a most enjoyable read.

Fundamorphosis is
the story of the author’s journey from a fundamentalist upbringing, through its
Bible schools, and on into its pulpits. It is the story of his questions and
experiences that ultimately led to his resignation, not just from the
fundamentalist church he was leading as pastor, but also his resignation from
its denomination. It is his story with the emergent church and, as he calls it,
“the church I always dreamed of.”

I wasn’t far into the book when I asked myself, “Is this man writing my story or his?”
The questions he asks and the doctrines he wrestled with were mine too.
Furthermore, if they were also mine, then I wondered, to how many others did
(or do) they also belong to? Maybe it follows, then, that Fundamorphosis is, in part, the story of all of us who have ever
wrestled with fundamentalism.

Fundamorphosis is
divided into three sections.

In the first section Ryerse deals with why he felt he had to
leave fundamentalism. He shares of how he began to doubt a lot of the pat
theological answers that he received (and gave) and of how he felt bound by
tradition. He shares his personal testimony of some of the fears he experienced
as he began to push the boundaries by asking those hard questions that nobody
wanted asked.

One such example was his wrestling with fundamentalism’s
view of how right orthodoxy trumps all, versus the good of orthopraxy that he
was starting to embrace. He concludes that, while right theology (orthodoxy) is
important, it cannot be more important than right behavior (orthopraxy). As he
does throughout the book, Ryerse shares personal life stories to illustrate his
various points. Ultimately the turning point for him was feeling that he was
wasting the best years of his life in a system that he found himself more and
more at odds with.

In part two of Fundamorphosis
the author describes the process he took through this difficult time. Having
now decided to leave fundamentalism, the questions that now plagued him had to
do primarily with what to keep from fundamentalism and what to throw away. Here
too I found myself relating to the struggle, for in many ways I have also gone
through the same painful process myself. I suspect that is true for many of us.
Ryerse says, “without careful reflection,
our beliefs can arise purely out of tradition and superstition.”

In what he refers to as “Theology
as Exploration,” Ryerse pushes the envelope even further by suggesting that
maybe we are all theologians in the sense that we have all thought about the
existence and reality of God. Since we have all done this, and since we have
all wondered at one time or another about the meaning of life, his premise is
that then we are all theologians. He says, “Faith
doesn’t arrive to us tied up with a pretty bow. It arrives as ‘some assembly
required.’”

In this section Ryerse discusses his new definition of
theology as, “the life-changing
reflection and articulation of who God is and how God works in my life and in
the world.” Through yet further awesome real-life stories and examples, we
are led to see that theology is, life changing, it is reflection, it is articulation,
and it is about God. In short, as the author says, “It is not just what we believe that is important, it is also important
how we believe.”

In the third and final section of Fundamorphosis we see how the author’s Christian faith has been
reconstructed into what it is today. It is about community, it is about story,
it is about transformation, and it is about hope.

Unlike the fundamentalism that he left, we are introduced to
the notion that community can, and must, happen in such a way that we do not
force uniformity. Ryerse says, “When we
try to force uniformity, we end up driving people away from each other.
Uniformity destroys the very community that is the basis for life.”

We are introduced to the idea of a more narrative and less
systematic form of theology. Instead of
the often dry and boringness of systematic theology, we see that “theology is best done through stories,”
through your story and through mine. This makes sense when we see this through
his previous idea that ultimately we are all theologians.

Theology is about articulation in that ultimately it ought
to bring about change in the lives of people. Ryerse shows us that theology is
so much more than just something to be pulled off a bookshelf now and then; it
is to be transformative, and an instrument of change.

And finally, theology is about hope. It is about eschatology
(the end times) and the realization that God is still very much in control and
has a plan through which He will bring all things to completion. It’s about the
often-joked “Pan-Millennialism,”
which says that all end times stuff will “pan
out” just as God has ordained.

In reading Fundamorphosis
I was left with the reminder that things do change, and that’s OK. I was left
thinking that maybe what it means to be alive in Christ is that we are always
undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts ourselves. Maybe we really are the
“emergent” church; maybe, like the butterfly in the book, we really are
starting to come into view as something beautiful. Maybe God really is more
interested in our orthopraxy than in our orthodoxy. Maybe everything will “pan out” after all. Maybe, if you’ve
ever wrestled with fundamentalism, you also need to read this book. Maybe …

Disclaimer

"Rethinking Faith and Church" may not be right for everyone, and especially not those who are unable to look at Christian faith from outside of the religious status quo that is sometimes called institutionalism. Here you will find a plethora of posts that will challenge you, hopefully encourage you, and quite possibly even upset you from time to time. You may even find a chuckle or two from some of the more satirical posts. Offence is not intended, but as with all "rethinking," sometimes toes do get stepped on. In the end, hopefully it's all done in love and for the glory of God. For more about this blog, please click on the 'Caution' sign above. Thanks for the visit. Peace and Blessings.